


to right the stars

by RaedselVee



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Study, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-13 13:30:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21495094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaedselVee/pseuds/RaedselVee
Summary: It began with lights....Lux finds herself in the midst of disaster while investigating an anomaly from Mount Targon. Thankfully, she isn't in this alone.
Kudos: 3





	to right the stars

**Author's Note:**

> So, how about those new Targonians?

It began with lights.

A peculiar slow dance of blue and gold, rippling, shimmering, amongst the stars. 

They were commonplace betwixt the frozen peaks across the sea, but in Demacia? It was a telltale sign of something awry, of something beyond. Learning just _how_ far beyond was the task given to Kahina, and by her will, one of the most talented and youngest of their fold.__

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Lux chanced a look at the dance, the veil, suspended above their ship like a ghost, craning her neck despite old aches. The veil had been following Kahina’s handful of Radiant Ones for days, becoming all the more difficult to ignore with each passing week. 

“Nothing like this back home,” she said more to herself than anything. “I mean…I mean, _now_ there is. That’s why we’re...here.”__

_ __ _

__

Kahina chuckled. The mage-knight pulled her auburn hair into a bun before joining Lux on the deck to partake in the view. 

“It’s like a dream,” Lux murmured.

“Yeah. Reminds me of girl I know.”

“…Oh?”

Lux could almost hear the elder’s knowing smile. The pair’s cloaks swayed in tune with the howling winds, but no further words were exchanged. There was no need. 

Even in silence, the earth spoke in mysterious ways. More often than not, the language of choice was familiar rather than magic. Then again, magic only made itself known to those willing to listen. 

So listen Lux did. 

Whatever lay deep in the heart of Mount Targon nudged at her soul. The lights never left for good, and they rarely left in sleep. They came to her when the most persistent of nightmares decided to rear their heads. She would wake with skin slightly cool to the touch as if some strange power had taken hold of the what-ifs beneath. 

That said, the company was not unwelcome – 

A hard gust of wind broke her train of thought. 

Lux’s cloak and locks whipped around, exposing her to the chill and piling onto her shoulders. She felt a flush as Kahina’s laughter filled the air once more. She patted herself down and blew warmth back into cupped hands, the empty space giving way to a flicker of light. The young mage marveled at the familiar glow for a moment, then, with a flick of her wrist, shaped it into an orb. Taken by a sense of urgency, she set the orb free, watching it brush against the veil and dissolve into a shower of white. She turned to her companion, the latter already standing to attention. 

“Kahina, I…”

“Speak your mind.” 

Lux clenched and unclenched her fists, traces of magic still prickling the heels. “We’ll have to destroy it, won’t we? The source.”

Kahina squeezed her shoulder in return. 

There was no need.

…

There was little luck on the third day.

Aside from the occasional stardust, not a single living thing could be found twisted by the veil. Yet, it was hard to say what _was_ to be expected from that with no name.__

_ __ _

__

Lux led her group down a riverside path opposite to Kahina’s trail into the woods to search for any afflictions made fresh. She had hoped that their investigation would not come to scaling the actual mountain, but at this rate, it was more than likely to become reality.

Before she knew it, twilight had fallen upon the land.

With oil lamps and magicks at the ready, the group continued their search well past the designated grounds. Lux plopped herself next to a narrow strip of river and tried to feel for anything amiss in the air or below the surface, elementals Elain and Vander close behind.

“Miss Crownguard?” Vander questioned, his limbs blending in with the surrounding trees.

He was immediately met with a jab from Elain. “Let the girl work, V.”

The two had become involved not too long after Lux’s entry to the Illuminators, a rarity considering the dangers of the trade.

“Look there!”

Elain began to examine what appeared to be a normal tree, berries bursting red beneath her feet. She was joined by Vander who held his lamp up to the bark. The surface was warped into a pattern resembling claw marks, rough, but symmetrical. A bit too symmetrical.

Elain conjured a ribbon of water with her free hand. As it made contact with the tree, the markings became clear and formed a different image altogether. Lux rose from her spot. It was… 

“An eye.”

It was then when a flicker not her own caught her eye. 

It was then when the earth _roared_. __

…

_Waiting.  
Watching._

_ __ _

_ __ _

…

It was still dark when Lux came to.

She shuttered her eyes and a sliver of the moon peered back, the only light capable of piercing the night. 

“Elain?”

Lux let out a cough as dust flew about.

“…A-are you okay? Elain, Vander!”

She tried to move, but was met with resistance from all sides – that is, with the exception of her head hitting stone. Her vision blurred, partially from the impact and that of the realization that the last thing she remembered was the…was the…

The tremor. 

“Kahina?”

Nothing.

Not to be deterred, Lux brought her arms and knees as close together as possible and pushed off the ground. The ceiling of debris and dust shifted just enough to let in a few fireflies. She caught the faintest sounds of a struggle outside her line of sight. She doubled her efforts.

She managed to break free in a final burst of desperation, scraping herself whilst stumbling to her feet. She surveyed the land, hands glowing hot, and hoped, _prayed_ to find her comrades alive and well as if she could will it so. __

_ __ _

_ __ _

Her heart stopped.

A crevice had cut through the river – or, at least, what remained of it – like the maw of a serpent, leaving gnarled roots and shattered stones, exposed and overturned, in its wake. The destruction Lux witnessed in Terbisia half a year ago echoed in her mind’s eye, the images just as vivid as they were the day of. She quelled the grief threatening to spill from her lips and with it, the panic. This wasn’t the time for such things. No one was dead. Not yet. 

She illuminated the area in hopes of locating the source of the sound. She made quick work of the obstacles barring the Radiant Ones’ rendezvous, careful not to set any of them aflame. The fireflies settled on a pile of crushed fruit and signed to each other in gold, urging her to follow. It didn’t take long for Lux to notice something off about the pulp. 

That some of it wasn’t pulp at all.

“Oy! Who goes there?”

Lux jumped, stumbling back in surprise. 

“Oy. Don’t go getting yourself killed for my sake. Watch it.”

Upon collecting herself, Lux edged towards the fallen trees from which the voice came. The mage side-stepped a knot of roots nearly thrice her size, taking heed of the advice she had been given, and peered into the sinkhole hidden underneath. 

“Hello?” 

She heard a grunt. “You don’t happen to have a sling on you, do ya?”

Lux broke out her baton, doing well to keep her hands hidden and the lighting low. This baton was not the first of her tethers nor would it likely be the last, and yet, having it close comforted her all the same. 

“I’m afraid not. May I ask who you might be?”

The stranger dragged herself into view, revealing a muscular figure, bloody and bruised, in leather and silverplate. The shoulder she was nursing was in particularly bad shape. 

Her eyes widened at the sight of Lux. “You…you’re one of those Demacians.”

Lux considered denying the claim outright...but considering the stranger’s condition and how very obvious _she_ was, deemed honesty the better option.__

_ __ _

_ __ _

“You were watching us?”

“You caught our attention once or twice, yes.”

It was then when Lux decided to drop the rest of her cloak into the other’s open hand. 

“I’m sorry it isn’t cleaner.”

Before her companion could object, Lux had already begun circling the tree to try and find a means of escape. The portion of the trunk obstructing the sinkhole was not about to budge. The sinkhole itself was too deep to drop anything with heft or reach out to the stranger without risk of hurting either of them. But maybe, just maybe, she could do a bit of both?

Lux backtracked until she found a couple of sizeable branches shaken loose by the tremor. 

“I take it you aren’t here for a rite?”

Lux dislodged the sturdiest of the bunch and took in her companion’s question with wrinkled brow.

“What do you mean?”

“You make your people climb.”

Lux had often thought on the Crown of Stone as a child, her fear having grown tenfold since the day her brother saw to the exile of a dear friend.

“No, we…we’re here to learn."

She held her breath, and with its release, brought forth a binding spell. She stood still as tendrils of light spilled from her fingertips, taking hold of the branch and lifting it off the ground. It took a great deal of concentration just to keep it steady at a few inches. 

“I’m going to try something. Sit tight!”

Lux anchored her branch and pushed against the fallen tree to make room. She fed more and more of the makeshift ladder, which was now in the midst of twisting onto itself to take in as much light as possible, down the hole until it formed something strong enough to climb. 

“Will this do? If not, I can – ”

The ladder shook as the stranger scaled it with her one good arm. Lux cleared a path, allowing the other to close the distance with an inhuman leap, ashen hair framing scars old and new across her shoulders. Lux brought her spell to a halt, but before she could make a move to help, loud pattering from the woods pounded towards them with no sign of letting up. To her surprise, the stranger brandished a knife from her cloak-sling and trudged ahead to face whatever was coming head on. They stood at the ready when someone suddenly cried out “HULD!” in relief. 

A pair of masked women in armor similar to that of the stranger tore through the foliage, riding in on golden lions with daggers for fangs, eyes unblinking. Lux could not decide for the life of her which of the two, mount or rider, was more stunning. 

The riders came to a halt and the stranger – Huld? – sheathed her weapon.

“Aspect Cleo,” she murmured. “I didn’t think you’d – ”

The shorter of the women stumbled – no, _threw_ herself at Huld who mustered a pained smile in spite of the unexpected weight. The taller, draped in shadow and strings of bone, tipped her mask to reveal a regal figure with ears and lips inked in gold. With her fellow rider occupied, the queenly woman took a moment to study the obvious outlier among them with a perfect raise of her brow.__

_ __ _

_ __ _

An Aspect indeed. 

Lux did what had been drilled into her for years and curtsied, a hand over her heart. A part of her felt foolish for doing so, but she had a hunch that these Rakkor would not be out for blood…not that she had ever met any in person to confirm nor deny said hunch.

Cleo’s nod proved reassuring enough. She grabbed the pouch left behind in the other rider’s haste, its contents – herbs by the look of it – close to spilling over. She broke up the pair to wrap a second strip of cloth around Huld’s arm. Sheepish, the shorter finished the job and held the sling together with thistle-thorns. Upon finishing, she turned her attention to Lux with thorn in hand. “Hey! You feeling some healing too?”

“Flavia,” Huld chided, taking a knee as a knight would. Or perhaps, in consideration for Lux’s glaring lack of height. “No teasing. Please.”

Huld continued as Flavia threw a wink over her shoulder. “I never did introduce myself. I am Huld.”

The mage nearly swallowed her name, but again, felt that the warrior women posed no threat and uttered “Lux. You can call me Lux.”

“Lady Lux,” Huld nodded. “You have my gratitude.”

She found her footing and rejoined Cleo, the latter seemingly lost in a swirl of lights that must have renewed themselves while Lux had been working her magic. They provided a small comfort in light of...well, everything. 

As soon as the Aspect located whatever it was she was looking for, she motioned for the group to follow suit. Huld held out a hand. “If I may – ”

“Peace. She comes with us,” Cleo assured, her voice laced with power not unlike Lux’s own. 

She prepared her mount as Flavia and Huld settled, one after another, on the other. “We caught wind of some of your friends on the way here.”

The Aspect offered the seat beside her and Lux took a step forward, every inch of her thrumming in anticipation of reunion...and with luck, that which set her mission in motion in the first place.

“Take me to them.”

…

The moon hung low over the cracked earth like a scythe, ever waning, ever watchful. Whether this had more to do with the lingering sense of danger in the wake of disaster or the power roiling within each star-touched thing was left to be said.

Lux and the Rakkor darted in and out of the growth with ease, their lions – affectionately dubbed “sabersweets” by Flavia, “teeth” to Huld – making ground faster than any steed native to Demacia. On one hand, fast was good, fast would deliver them by daybreak. 

Fast also meant clinging for dear life. Luckily, Cleo didn’t seem to mind being white-knuckled. 

While only so many of her questions could be answered en route, Lux continued to inquire about the other phenomena plaguing the land. In doing so, she learned that her companions were not the cliff-dwellers typical of Targon as she had suspected. In fact, the trio preferred another name altogether. 

“If I may, why haven’t I heard of the Ra-Kati before?”

Cleo steered her lioness towards a ring of broken trees, but stopped short of running it into a lake hidden by stalks of thistle-thorns. Flavia and Huld did the same, dismounting to let their own take a drink.

Even under the cover of night, Lux could feel how inhuman, or rather how radiant, the Aspect was. She claimed to be a force of nature, something as easily divined as still waters were true – and to her credit, Lux believed it. She wanted to believe it.

_ __ _

_ __ _

There was nothing back home that compared to this idea of gods among men. While most manner of beasts and humans drew magic from the earth, Aspects received their powers from a place well beyond comprehension. They were law, and if Cleo was any indication, they were _loved_. __

_ __ _

_ __ _

“We rest for now.”

The lioness lowered itself at Cleo’s command, giving Lux a chance to stretch her legs. She cleared a path and took in their new surroundings, thoughts straying from gods to her missing comrades. Without fear of claw or fang, Cleo combed through her lioness’ fur as it, too, began to stretch.

Answers would have to come later.

Lux perked up at the sound of the other women’s approach, “sabersweet” in tow. While both seemed to sense her discomfort, Flavia was the first to speak. 

“Chilly, huh?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it is. I only hope the others are faring as well as I.”

Lux wrung her hands, itching for her tether, any tether, to keep _them_ at bay – a gesture Flavia took as her cue to continue. “Don’t you worry, our sisters will see to their safety. Ra-Kati’s promise.”__

_ __ _

_ __ _

“I’ll take your word for it.”

Huld made a noise in agreement. “Then, let us make haste. We would do well not to freeze prior to our engagement.”

She started to gather some kindling, but was held back by a strong grip rather than her own injury.

“_I’ll_ take care of it,” Flavia interjected. “Sit.”__

_ __ _

_ __ _

“But – ”

“_Sit_.”__

_ __ _

_ __ _

The pair bickered for a while longer before Huld finally conceded to keeping their guest company per “healer’s orders.” Having been left with little else to occupy themselves, Huld and Lux decided to find somewhere suitable to pat a fire pit into place. 

The elder gave their handiwork a nod of approval and made herself as comfortable as one could on soil and stone. Lux had just begun to calm her nerves when Flavia’s lioness sidled next to her, its mouth set in a perpetual snarl. To her surprise, it rolled its tongue in greeting, a yawn if there ever was one, and settled on Huld’s lap. The way in which the lioness curled into itself was so reminiscent of Fossian-bred house cats that Lux was overwhelmed with the need to give it a proper pat. She reached out to brush the top of its head, but upon reconsidering what was and wasn’t proper, turned to Huld instead. 

Huld waved her off, and with it, the last of her worries. “Go on. She likes ya.”

Lux could barely contain her joy as the lioness leaned into every scratch, every feather touch of its ears twitching this way and that. If not for the steady thump of the tail behind her, she would have thought it asleep. 

“Hey.”

Lux met the gaze of her decidedly non-cat companion and saw a glimmer that wasn’t there before.

“How do you feel about the stars? The…” Huld made an angular motion with her finger and pointed at the sky. “Orai? The…patterns, pictures? The…” She squinted at nothing in particular. “I, uh, can’t seem to remember what your people call them.”

“Constellations?”

“Constellations...” Huld sampled the word. “Yeah, that’s the one.”

“Does ‘Orai’ mean something different?”

Pleased, Huld pointed out a cluster of lights that resembled a bow strung taut against the curve of the moon. She quickly traced a second angular shape and ended it with a flourish at Targon’s peak.

“From what I know of your…of Demacians, constellations are a means of navigation, story-telling, as are but a few of the many aspects of their purpose.” 

To the chagrin of their feline companion, Huld shifted in her seat as she relayed the rest of what she wished to say.

“For us, however, they are more than tales of old. They are Orai.” The glimmer in her eyes returned brighter than ever. “They are _alive_.”__

_ __ _

_ __ _

Lux tried to piece together what that could mean aside from talk of gods and goddesses. “I assume the same goes for the veil?” 

“I…can’t say for sure.” Huld’s mouth formed a hard slant. “I don’t think it was ever human.” She turned their attention to the brightest light within the bow-like constellation, a star as lustrous as silverplate. “See that one at the end?”

Lux knew it by heart. 

“The First Star.”

“Yes, the Aspect of Starlight goes by many names,” Huld remarked, taking on a reverent tone once more. “We know her as Kati.”

And with that, Flavia reemerged from the brush, smile wide, and tossed her kindling onto the pit. She looked at Huld expectedly. 

“What? You find another pretty man to fix wandering the wood?”

“Nope.”

The shorter Ra-Kati dug through her satchel and procured a fruit with a ruby-red sheen. “Ta-da!”

By some stroke of luck, Lux anticipated Flavia’s next move and caught the offering in mid-air. 

“This wasn’t your first sneak attack, I see,” Flavia chuckled, quick to claim the spot opposite to her partner. She gestured at the fruit. “Will you do the honors?”

Huld clicked her tongue. “You can’t just throw things, Flavi.”

“Don’t be jealous. I would have thrown you one too if your arm wasn’t stuck like that.”

Lux thumbed the frayed hairs of the ruby-fruit until she found a catch in its shell. When she finally managed to break through, she was taken aback by the blood that burst forth and seeped into the lines of her palm.

No, not blood…fireflies…

Fireflies?

Her head began to swim. 

What was she hoping to remember? What was – 

_The eye_.__

_ __ _

_ __ _

She grasped for meaning. 

The moment Lux put the eye to words, the more painful, the more _primal_, the sudden need to survive. A heart beat. A terrifying existence fell in time with the thump, thump, thump of her hands. An echo of that image…that _realm_ slipped through the cracks of her mind and went startlingly still.

__

__

_ _ __ _ _

_ _ __ _ _

_To learn_. __

_ __ _

_ __ _

Lux rose from her seat, shaking, struggling to make sense of what happened when she was forced back to reality.

Flavia's lioness had gone and lapped the sweet off her fingertips, oblivious to her terror.

“Don’t worry about the mess, pomegranates do…” Flavia trailed off. “That.”

“Lady Lux?” Huld pushed the lioness aside to hold Lux steady. “Lady Lux! Breathe. Whatever it is you think you see, you mustn’t follow.”

Lux severed ties with the realm as if it were a phantom limb and shifted to the now. She gasped, clutching her chest with each intake. “I’m fine! I…I think it’s...” 

_To learn?_

_ __ _

_ __ _

_ __ _

_ __ _

“…What did you mean by I shouldn’t follow?”

The Ra-Kati looked to each other, uncertain what to say – but before either could voice as much, their leader broke the tension.

“You see it too.” 

The trio turned to an all but absent Cleo who had submerged herself waist-deep in water. 

“You shouldn’t have come here,” she mused. 

Weary of whatever the Aspect was failing to get at, Lux made her move. She strode past the second lioness and towards its master, boots treading mud at the very edge of the pool.

“The thing I saw, the tremor, the veil, what does it all _mean_?”__

_ __ _

_ __ _

For a beat, it looked as if Cleo would ignore her. “...As much as Starlight may see all, she is just as bound as you and I.” 

Lux abandoned any hopes of staying dry and met Cleo in the middle. “Come. Listen.” 

Lux peered into the moonlit ripples, wet clinging to her clothes, and saw…nothing. “I – ”

“Look not with the eye, but that which burns at your being. You need not hide what should be held close and held high.”

The mage started. “So, you already knew…” 

She took a breath.

The moment she mustered a bit of light, the nothing gave way to shadows, then…silhouettes. They spoke of familiar faces, surrounded by warmth. She saw Kahina. She saw her fellow elementals among others, half of them as bruised as Huld had been, but safe and sound.

Lux exhaled. “They’re alive.”

Cleo shifted her gaze, unflinching, though not unkind. “Flavia and Huld gave their word, yes?” She made a circular motion to her sisters on land. They repeated it in kind. “Kati has had much on her mind, but I do hope this provides some solace.”

“It did. Thank you…and Kati too. Though, I have to admit, I have even more questions now than before...”

Cleo skimmed the surface. “For that, I offer my sincerest apologies. I do what I can, work with what I have, but…” She stole a glance at the sea of stars overhead. “The signs are not always of my own making.” 

“Why is that?” 

“The Twilight loves to meddle…as is typical of a sibling.”

Lux’s mind swirled. “I see…I think I understand. You’re a mediator of sorts, a…a messenger! That’s pretty – ”

A sneeze.

“Ah,” Cleo sniffed. “Neither sister is known to be particularly _convenient_ either…” __

_ __ _

_ __ _

That sneeze almost cost Lux the bout of laughter bubbling in her chest. It had been a night. It had been a _long_ night. __

_ _Upon resuming a somewhat solemn air, the pair began their trek back to shore. _ _

_ __ _

_ __ _

“I meant what I said,” Cleo started, tentative, “Once you and your friends have been reunited, it’d be best to return home.”

“But…” The mage took a moment to form her thoughts. “It wouldn’t feel right to just leave. What about the veil?” 

“We have the Aspects to thank for that.”

“...And what does that mean for us?”

“It’s a warning. It alone poses no threat to our people. Those that hunger, on the other hand…” Cleo’s voice dropped to a dangerous low. “Those that watch, do.”

By the time they made it to shore, Flavia and Huld had their hands full holding back a now bristling pair of lions. Cleo stilled. Lux tried to make out whatever had them so riled…and was met with a monstrous swarm of eyes. 

If it could even be called that.

The eyes pushed against the dark as if it were glass, spidery tendrils bursting forth from each vein and reaching, _writhing_, though stuck in place for the time being. __

_ __ _

_ __ _

Despite her instincts screaming otherwise, Lux stopped short of retreating to the lake. She instead turned to Huld with a hushed “That’s it. That’s what I saw.”

“It’s a breach,” the older woman hissed, still clutching her lion by the scruff. “And a big one at that. Aspect Cleo, what do we do?”

The Ra-Kati awaited further orders, but Cleo beckoned Lux alone to the empty fire pit. “Stay close.” 

Lux did just that, her magic flaring to life as the eyes darted between her and Cleo, devoid of any real emotion. A familiar sensation filled her bones and warmed her breath. The crude eye that had previously left its mark on the woods, the one that had led to _this_, was tucked away in favor of the imminent threat of the swarm. The Aspect fell into an easy stride before turning on her heel, steeling herself for the swarm’s next move. In turn, Lux readied a whorl of light. The eyes moved in tandem, pupils narrowed to slits, as pale wisps rained down from above and surrounded both women.__

_ __ _

_ __ _

She had only grasped such beauty in her dreams. 

She traced the source to Cleo’s outstretched hand, wisps tethered to each and every silver surface in the glade.

_Starlight_.__

_ __ _

_ __ _

So _this_ was the radiance upon which she had placed her trust. __

_ __ _

_ __ _

The monsters released a collective shriek that was more clash of senses than sound. They resumed their writhing at a murderous pace, bound by the invisible, but unraveling by the second.

“Can we really take them? I’m not sure I can – ”

“Cast your doubt, Lady Lux!” The mage started at Huld’s thunderous tone. While the fearsome Ra-Kati and her partner may have possessed no magic of their own, they stood their ground, ready as ever. “We may be few, but we are strong. We will see this through. Together.”

_Together_.__

_ __ _

_ __ _

Lux found her center and held it close. “R-right!” 

Without a second to lose, Cleo tethered herself to the fire pit. Lux followed suit…and the symphony of colors that ensued was truly something to behold. It was neither magic born of divine flame nor the kind wielded for war that would fell the swarm, but a _shield_.__

_ __ _

_ __ _

It was then when stars met sun, their man-made rhythm pushing the unsung to greater heights. The newly forged shield enveloped the night, and with it, the shrieking eyes. They grasped for that which burned bright, desperate to destroy. They thrashed about for what felt like forever before slithering out of sight…only to resurface, a storm of vicious intent. 

To blink was to miss the flux of flesh threatening to tear reality anew.

Cleo did not falter. “Stand to!”

Lux was no stranger to death. Lux was no stranger to _shame_, and yet, fortune had spared her from seeing to the end of such things time and time again. She wasn’t about to let fear swallow her whole now. __

_ __ _

_ __ _

Before she knew it, Lux had unleashed a battle cry befitting a Crownguard…and daresay, a Ra-Kati. 

The shield held fast. The monsters, driven to the depths from whence they came, all intent lost to motion.

As the remains of the shield dissipated, all grew still. Cleo let out a huff, tilting her head as if to say “That’s that.”

It couldn’t be. They were…felled? 

They were gone just like that?

A flood of emotions came crashing down on the mage, but none could prepare her for what Flavia muttered next.

“Well, I could _really_ use a pomegranate.”__


End file.
